I live in industrial east Oakland on the fringe of Fruitvale. It is one of the roughest neighborhoods in the entire Bay Area. I moved here, like a lot of artists, because rents are unaffordable in San Francisco. At first I wasn’t too thrilled about it. There’s a lot of trash, pollution, prostitutes, crime. The regular homeless junkies with their carts and buggies are my neighbors, some of whom I know by name.
This wall is across the street from my studio window. A year ago someone was shot and killed in front of it. The graffiti changes constantly. Within a week after management or government paints over the graffiti, the tags are back.
Expression can not and will not be suppressed. Below is the same wall last month.
In spite of the danger, and the downsides of living in an extreme urban environment, I like my 1300 sq. ft. interior live / work loft. I’ve settled in over the past year and I’m finally ready to embrace the exterior environment – at least on a visual level. It is what it is, and while I’m here I might as well explore it. I’m going to start posting more pictures of the things I see every day in my neighborhood.
I recently met painter and muralist, Jill McLennan, through a mutual friend. Jill lives in Jingletown, a slightly more developed artist loft community about ten blocks down the street from me. Most of Jill’s paintings and public murals depict and are a part of east Oakland. They are so colorful, bright, and hopeful… without hiding the blight… although there is a lot of visible litter and dumping…
Even so, I was looking at her paintings and wondering about how fantastic they seem. Most people brave enough to drive through this hood would probably see the blight and decay, before the color, wild growth, and unbounded expression. Many of the artists who live here see it differently. Please view more of Jill’s urban landscapes on her website.
I can tell that the visual influence of east Oakland is already impacting my color sense, as well as the energy tone, and the forms of my quilt patterns. What do you think?
Does your exterior environment affect your work? How so… I would really like to know.
i think my environment does influence how i create. as you know, for the iching quilt, i picked the color scheme based on the ocean when i surf.
i picked what i could relate to and what resonates with me.
i find though, that music and sound seem to have a big impact on my creativity. it invokes feeling in me and how i visualize certain projects.
oakland is rich with rawness, emotion, creativity, grit, and yes, beauty. i don’t know how it could not impact on what one creates!
as always…great post!
one more thing…i love graffiti art and mural work. i remember taking art history in college. we rode up from the south bay and met up in the mission district in s.f. and got to get tour of the murals there. it remember loving that particular session of the class.
I liked your post Sherri. I do believe our environment influences our quilting, painting, writing or whatever we do. Often I use green colours for my quilts, I live in the middle of fields, near forests, green is a vital colour for me. Seasons influence me too. This past August was a particularly hot month over here, canicular. During this period I sewed a mini-quilt in white, beige, natural shades. Most unusual for me. Instinctively I was looking for coolness ! The book mentioned by “Liberty” sounds interesting.
My color choices are dictated by what exists in my stash, but I know that what I choose to add to my stash is in part a response to my environment. I can see threads of where I live running through my work as a kind of second read.
Quilts carry so many layers of stories. Thanks Kristin.
Hi there! Great post. I painted your loft, and I like what you’ve done with the place. I used to live in Jingletown at Ford St and worked for the Petersons turning over the units. Oakland is great for making art. I feel I made really good art there and the way my color changed was a huge part of it. But watch your butt. It really is no joke over there. I had to tap out and moved back in with fam down on the central coast last year. It’s a lot, Oakland. But there are some beautiful peeps for sure, making the blight shimmer and bloom. Love that…enjoy yourself.
Thanks Jordan, I enjoyed visiting your blog on Trying to be a Tree.
I witnessed the scene of a drive by shooting on Wednesday at the corner of 12th & 47th – seconds after the automatic gun fire stopped. I was too chicken to look while the shooting was taking place. Unbelievable.
I just started subscribing and I ‘m so glad I did! I can’t really say that my environment affects what I do in my quilting but it definitely affects how I work. Living by the water affords me the transition between my desk job (sitting at my computer) and my avocation (sitting at my frame). If I can catch just 5 minutes and stare at the waves, I can clear my head and shift gears. It’s powerful.
Thanks for your work. I’m definitely checking out the I Ching technique! Take care, Byrd
My old studio was on Treasure Island and I had a beautiful view of the bay from my studio window. It was so meditative. Your setting sounds perfect for quilting Byrd. I’m envious!
I appreciate this. I also live in a very urban area. I think a lot of people don’t understand why families with children would move to these areas, but there is simply something that is (to me at least) indescribably pulsating and inspiring about living in the middle of the city. I’m very inspired by the urban grit that I see around me. And I love the conversation you are having with your environment and neighbors. Please do continue to show more! (And on that note, have you recently reread “the architecture of the quilt” book about the Gees’ bend quilts? The photos of their environment are really stunning placed next to their work…
Thanks for the thoughtful share. I’m going to look that Gees’ Bend article up.